A solid defensive effort along with balanced scoring by the Chestnut Hill College Women's Basketball team led to a 55-46 win on the road at Mercy College Tuesday night snapping the griffins two-game losing streak.

The Griffins improve to 4-4 overall while the Mavericks fall to 4-5.

On the offensive side, six different Griffin players scored five or more points with Bri Hewlett and Leah Miller leading the way with ten points apiece.  Emily Chmiel added nine points while Siobhan Boylan chipped in six.  Kaitlyn Carter and Morgan Orloski had five points apiece. Boylan led the team with three assists.

Defensively, the Griffins forced 22 turnovers and recorded 14 steals with Chmiel and Abbey Spratt leading the way with three steals apiece.  Chmiel and Miller had six rebounds apiece with Carter pulling down five. 

Chestnut Hill led by just four points at the half but forced eight Maverick turnovers in the third quarter and turned a one possession game into a 15-point lead 42-27 with a 14-2 uprising over a six minute stretch in the third quarter. Two straight three point bombs from Mercy cut the lead to single digits before Boylan sank a free throw with 25 seconds lefty to give the Griffins a 43-33 lead heading into the final period.

The Mavericks closed within eight twice in the final period before a long jump shot from Boylan and a floater from Orloski put the Griffins back up by 12 with 5:52 left.  The lead oscillated between 10 and 12 points until Chmiel's two free throws put the Griffins up by 13 55-42 with 2:22 left.    Mercy scored twice in the final 1:33 to close the gap to nine at the buzzer.

Earlier in the contest an 8-0 run by the Griffins turned a 7-5 deficit into a 13-7 lead before a Maverick basket closed the gap to 13-9 before the quarter ended.  Mercy opened with a 9-4 run to take a brief 18-17 lead.  Bri Rider's three-ball put the Griffins back on top to stay 20-17 and a traditional three-point play following a putback from Morgan Sterner completed an 8-3 run which saw the Griffins lead 25-21 at halftime.

For the game, the Griffins shot 36.2% (21-58) while holding Mercy to 34.1% (15-44) from the field.  The Griffins were dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Mavericks 41-30 including an 18-9 advantage on the offensive glass, leading to 15 second chance points.    The Griffins also dished out a total of 14 assists on 21 field goals while the Mavericks had five assists on their 15 baskets.

The Chestnut Hill College women's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 10, 2022, when they travel to Washington D.C. to take on the University of the District of Columbia.